Step 1: Learn Which Course You’ll Support

Before the beginning of the term, you will find out your course assignment. You may have received this assignment because of your experience with the subject, familiarity with the professor, or simply the needs of the WA Program. Be sure to contact Kathy (kevertz@carleton.edu) or Robbie (rgroth@carleton.edu) if you have any questions.

Step 2: Seek Out the Professor and Have a Conversation About Expectations and Roles

The sooner you can make contact with the professor, the better.

• Set up an appointment time and stop by his/her office, preferably before the first day of class. Do not just communicate by e-mail or play phone tag.
• Use three documents to help you establish an effective working relationship with the professor and the students in the class; in fact, it might be helpful to bring these documents to your meetings with the professor:
  • WA Job Description
  • The Writing Assistant Program at Carleton: Writing Assistants’ Advice to New WAs and Their Wish List for Faculty
  • The Writing Assistant Program at Carleton: Some Ways Faculty Can Integrate Writing Assistants in Writing-Rich Courses.

Ask for a copy of the syllabus and try to find out as much as you can about the class, the students, and the kind of support the professor would like you to give to students. (When the term begins, the prof can print out a photo roster of the class with e-mail addresses for you—just ask.)

During the meeting, establish your own boundaries with the prof. Explain the things you can and cannot do as a WA (see the Writing Assistant Job Description for more information on what the duties of a WA are and aren’t). For example, your standard WA contract allows for an average of three hours/week throughout the term, including some time spent in the class itself (see Step 2, below). In a typical course that has 3-4 major writing assignments, you will have some weeks with a lot of student appointments, balanced by some weeks with little or no traffic. Does the prof want every student in the class to meet with you? In a seminar of 15, that works out easily. In a larger intro course of 25-30, it may be unrealistic. With your prof, work out an estimate of time demands for the whole term up front. It may seem incredibly anal, but you will both be happier when things get busy and you have anticipated potential problems.

Be sure that you and your prof are clear on your roles and responsibilities. You are a Writing Assistant, not a TA, a grader, or another kind of peer instructor. Your job is work with students to improve their writing, and that may include meeting with students individually or in groups and limited participation in class. You are not to conduct class, grade papers, or ever speculate what grade a student’s paper might receive.

You’ll want to ask questions that allow you to get some background on how the prof teaches the course: What is the policy on revision? How does the prof feel about well-argued papers that nevertheless don’t follow the assignment? What kinds of advice does the prof tend to give his/her students on writing? How often should the prof and the WA meet?

Determine how and when you will work with students. Will you hold three office hours per week, or will you distribute a sign-up sheet for, say, 20-minute meetings with you before a draft or revision is due? Will you lead small peer-review groups, in which students read each other’s drafts and provide feedback?

Ask the professor for a class list, and ask him/her to add you to the class email list. Use the email list to create a distribution list to send reminders about your availability, meeting locations, etc.

Step 3: Introduce Yourself to the Students During the Class

Ideally, your schedule will permit you to attend class once a week—at least for the beginning of the term. Not only does your contract pay you for attending these classes, but there are other benefits as well: doing so makes you a visible part of the teaching team for the course, and you will have firsthand knowledge of at least some of the classroom dynamics. If you have a class at the same time, be sure to work out a time with your prof when you can poke your head in, just to say hi and let the students know what you look like.

Tell them briefly what your role is (i.e., you’re not an editor, but you can facilitate their writing process and offer constructive feedback) and invite them to make use of your services.

You and your professor should discuss in advance how and when you will be physically present in the class. For example, some professors will ask you to read drafts outside of class (keep track of your hours!), and you may be asked to talk with the class when a batch of drafts is being returned. If you have read drafts along with the professor, your views on the collective strengths and challenges will be helpful for students to hear. Writers appreciate knowing that readers take their efforts seriously.

If no writing is due during the first week, you might want to hold an hour-long orientation meeting one evening, in which you describe your own experiences with writing at Carleton and allow students to ask questions about college writing. Demystification goes a long way toward reducing students’ anxieties about writing.

Step 4: Prepare for the First Assignment

As soon as the prof hands out the first assignment, students are going to start thinking about writing papers, and that’s where you come in. Make sure you get a copy of the assignment sheet, and be proactive in scheduling a short meeting with the prof to discuss it. If it involves a short text, e.g., a poem, take a look at the material. However, don’t feel like you have to know enough to write the paper yourself. Just have an idea of what to expect. It always looks bad to ask a student if you ask, “Now what was the assignment again?”

Step 5: Start Scheduling Appointments

Once the assignment is out, it’s time to distribute a sign-up sheet or email the class with your office hours and location.

If a paper or draft is due on Friday, don’t put all your slots on Thursday. It will be the first to fill up, of course, but starting a paper more than 24 hours before the deadline should not be a Herculean task for the students in the course.

Also, it is very, very important not to overextend yourself. No matter how much you enjoy your work, you’ll probably get exhausted after several hours of working with writers and therefore be less helpful during sessions.

Split up your appointment times— have some in the morning, some in the evening. If you have to pack in more than four in one night, schedule some down time for yourself between sessions. Limit meetings to 20-30 minutes each. Be sure students know that the time is short and that they should prepare accordingly. Remind them to be on time for their appointment and that they should arrive with questions to ask you.

If you (or your prof) want the students to bring completed drafts or papers to the WA meetings, make sure they know that. If you are to serve as a sounding board for decoding the assignment or brainstorming, fine—as long as students know what to expect. Also, make it very clear where you are meeting them. Many students just assume it’s the writing center.

Do: Meet in a place that is quiet enough to concentrate but casual enough to put your client at ease. We like Upper Sayles, Scoville 206, or the 4th floor of the Libe.

Don’t: Meet in a dorm room (too casual), Great Space (too loud), during your shift at the writing center (others have priority on your time), or in the Libe Athenaeum (no talking there!)

Last, but most certainly not least, your studies take priority! Be sure to coordinate scheduling appointments with your own academic obligations in mind. This means that if you have a paper due on the same date as your WA class does, make sure that you schedule appointments such that you’re left with enough time to complete your work. And remember: if a student does not show for an appointment, you’re under no obligation to host an emergency session. Noble sacrifices might be tempting to make, but we don’t expect martyrdom; in fact, we strongly discourage it.

Step 6: Remind, Remind, Remind

After you get the sign-up sheet, send out e-mails, and then send additional reminders the day of the meetings. Do all you can to prevent the dreaded (and unproductive) no-show. If a student asks you to host an emergency session because he or she didn’t show for a scheduled appointment, tell the student that writing consultants at the writing center would be happy to work with him or her! Students should be encouraged to take advantage of all the writing support the ASC offers.

Your first set of WA meetings is the most important. It is here that you establish a relationship with the students. In fall term especially, it is their first experience with a WA. If you are a first-timer as well, you are beginning to form your own tutoring style through training while also tailoring your work to the needs of the course and individual students. It can be a bit overwhelming, so make sure you are confident and prepared every step of the way.

Welcome, new writing consultants for 2006-07!